Animal Well is one of those works that seem to have been scooped out of a single skull: a chilly clump of sweet dreams and obsessions, pleasures and manias.
This is a handsome remaster that will hopefully win over new players, but for those already in love with Broken Sword, something is missing.
There is enough pleasant fun here to divert you, and there are flutters of real invention. You just wish that it ran a little further.
A choose-your-own horror without any fright, The Casting of Frank Stone has an intriguing plot that doesn’t end up delivering.
Star Wars: Bounty Hunter is not, nor was it, a good video game, but this loving remaster makes you think of what may still come.
Conscript may not be a true survival horror, but it taps into that legacy and roots it in fertile soil.
Kunitsu-Gami is exactly the sort of thing we need more of, the kind of game that you kid yourself used to crop up regularly in generations gone by.
Braid is a classic, and this edition features beautifully redone art and music, with hours of excellent developer commentary.
Indika is a must. It stays with you, its heroine is fascinating, and its surreal vision is unsettling. You haven’t played anything like it.
A bright and vibrant world filled with dull combat and a plodding story.
Skull and Bones is a dull exercise in checklist progression, spiced here and there with some impressive sailing.
Fluid platforming and frenetic combat, with some lovely spectacle and a dull story.
If there is any criticism to be made of Jusant, it's that developer Don't Nod – no stranger to over-egging the narrative pudding at times – couldn't hold its tongue, filling the beautifully spartan climb with diaries, logs, and otherwise unnecessary lore. But the game's focus on its core climbing mechanics, and some of the finest art direction we've yet seen, still make this an essential journey.
If you're already invested in the Remedy Connected Universe – that's Alan Wake, this sequel, and 2019's Control, thus far; officially, everything else is just an Easter Egg – then you will devour and adore Alan Wake 2. For everyone else it might feel like a slog, at times, through Alan's hackneyed writings and Remedy's penchant for mixed-media presentation, but this is still an excellent survival horror with many bright spots reflected in that signature flashlight.
In the absence of meaningful stakes, Frog Detective's trading sequence mechanics might seem shallow and its detective work may feel basic, but perhaps that's deliberate? In focusing on whimsy and charm above all else, Frog Detective is allowed to just be funny and daft on its own merits, and that's where it shines.
Nintendo rather threw the kitchen sink (full of thousands of Post-it notes) at Super Mario Bros. Wonder, so it's unsurprising that not every element is as successful as the game's – and the genre's – best. But when you think about it, it's remarkable that, after nearly four decades, there are still new ideas left to try. The real wonder is how good Mario's latest 2-D romp turned out.
Shifting perspectives, changing abilities, and an expanded open world playground make this sequel into a bona fide blockbuster.
While the spectacle of a gruff, coffee-pounding Pikachu in a deerstalker hat will never not be charming, Detective Pikachu Returns is less enjoyable than both its breakthrough predecessor and, somehow, the surprisingly decent Hollywood movie spin-off. The odd world-building is still on point, though, and younger players will doubtless find some fun in the not-so-murky corners of Ryme City, even if the intrigue is light and the detecting itself is a little rote.
Lords of the Fallen is enough to tide you over until the next Soulslike, and it has some arresting sights, but it lacks a focus of its own.
A generous and lavish racer, with thrilling driving, that wants you for the long haul.